About J. Walter Thompson Canada

Humble. Hungry.

Pioneers are hungry. We are restless, never satisfied. We respect the need for help on our journey, and reach out to collaborate. We value the significance that a new perspective can bring. We constantly challenge ourselves and those around us. We're completely focused on the work.

Work that drives our clients' businesses. Work that enables brands to adapt to an ever-shifting world. Work that is creative, aspirational and responsible. Work that shapes the world.

Latest News

Hotels.com Launches Winter Swear Jar to Prove That Even The Coldest Winter Can Be Rewarding

TORONTO – February 21, 2017 – Hotels.com™ understands that Canadian winters can be long and brutal. That’s why they’re rewarding disgruntled Canadians with a $1,000 Hotels.com gift card to use when booking a hotel stay somewhere warm. Introducing the Winter Swear Jar, a social media campaign that turns negative tweets about winter into money that goes towards sending people on warm, wonderful vacations.

Working with creative agency J. Walter Thompson Canada, Hotels.com will seek out and subsequently respond to exasperated and profane tweets they find about winter. Each frustrated Canadian they find will be directed to a landing page containing a virtual Swear Jar that fills up as more and more people express their contempt for the cold.

“It’s a universal truth that Canadian winters get cold, yet every year Canadians take to social media to express their frustration for the slush, the wind chill and the never-ending layers,” said Josh Belkin, Vice President and General Manager North America for Hotels.com brand. “With the Winter Swear Jar, we’re giving Canadians a chance to air their grievances about winter and also be rewarded, all while interacting with us in a humorous way to hopefully make winter a bit more bearable.”

For every profanity-laden, anti-winter tweet that is used in tandem with a winter-related keyword like #snow, #shoveling or #slush, Hotels.com will add a quarter to the Winter Swear Jar. Each time the jar fills up with change, a lucky Canadian will win a Hotels.com Gift Card for $1,000 to be used towards booking the perfect winter escape.

“The Winter Swear Jar idea allowed us to tap into winter angst in a culturally relevant way. It also allowed the Hotels.com brand to, in some small way, be a part of making winter more enjoyable.” said Darrell Hurst, EVP, Managing Director, J. Walter Thompson Canada. “This creative idea was a direct result of social listening and developing a solution that would resonate with our target audience.”

Canadians can post on social media as many times as they like to increase the amount of money in the Swear Jar. Each time the jar reaches $1,000, one potty-mouthed entrant will receive a $1,000 Hotels.com Gift Card to book a sunny getaway.